Shattered Fragments
by Won'tforgetcanregret
Summary: Before Tom Raines, the USIF had one last hope. Skylar Kaynes was a natural Combatant, born to fly. But then something went wrong.
1. Chapter 1

Elliot Ramirez

"What happened to Skylar Kaynes?" Tom asks me.

The question surprises me, although I guess it shouldn't. I know he watched her fight, never as closely as he watched Medusa, but still, he would have noticed.

"Skylar Kaynes?" I fight to keep my voice steady. I don't want to show how much his question hurt. Lucky for me its something I'm well practiced in. "She-she had to leave the Spire."

"Why?" he asks. Of course he wouldn't accept the simple answer.

I sigh. "Look, all you need to know is that she's not here anymore. Why not ask her brother if you want to know so badly?"

"But why? She wouldn't get kicked out; she was one of the best Combatants." Like I didn't know that. She _was_ our best. "And besides, Axle wouldn't tell me anything," he persists.

I take a deep breath. "Ok. She really did have to leave, but before she...went...she left me something."

"What?" He leans forward.

"Some of her memories. They document her time here. They show what happened to her." I stop talking quickly as my voice starts to waver.

He treads carefully around his next question. "Can I maybe-would you let me see them?"

I think for a moment. Could I do that? Share my last memories of this girl? Finally, I make my decision. "Ok. But because I owe you for the Summit fight." And maybe it's also because I think she should know. I start to push the memories to the front of my brain, a transfer technique Skylar herself discovered. I'm starting part of the way through her time at the Spire, from the time she started to be extraordinary. As a plebe, she truly wasn't anything amazing. Oh, brilliant just like everyone else of course, but it wasn't until she started flying that she really shone.

Just before I start to transfer the memories into his neural processor, I share one last thought. "Tom?"

"Yeah?"

"Be sure to learn from her. Make it worth something."

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**Ok, so based on the fact that I had to create this archive, I don't know if anyone will be reading this, but if you do, I hope you like it! I don't know how often I'll be updating, but it should be fairly regular since I have almost all of it prewritten. Also, the chapters vary in length a lot, but I think this is one of the shorter ones. That all said, hope you liked it, please review :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Why hello there. It's lovely to see you. Anyway, here's the first chapter from Skylar's memory/viewpoint. Hope you like it!**

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**C:\edit **

**Name: Skylar Kaynes**

**Call Sign: Wolf**

**Rank: USIF Grade VI, Camelot Company, Machiavelli Division**

**Origin: Anchorage, AK**

**Achievements: State Innovation and Invention Fair-1st Place, Regional Science Fair-1st Place Team, Interscholastic Basketball Championship Greater Anchorage Borough-2nd Place Team**

**IP: 2053:db7:lj71:317:113:6e8**

**Security Status: Top Secret LANDLOCK-6**

**MemFile running**

When you make Middle Company, that's where the competition really starts in the Spire. That's when they start testing you in the skills you'd need to make CamCo. What I was looking for, though, was a chance to fly. And when I finally did, it was the best day of my life.

Of course, they don't let you try right away. They make you do so much training that you're practically about to move up before you finally get to run a Flight Sim. I'll be the first to tell you it's a long, painful wait.

The day we start flight simulations, we're led into a room full of cots with connector wires, just like the ones for Applied Sims. I plug in, lost in a blur of anticipation. Suddenly, I find myself in full control of my very own simulated aircraft.

Just as we've been taught, I run the sequence to get the ship ready. If I was in my body, I'd be trembling from excitement. My mission objective appears: **Fly around the blue planet, return, land**. The orientation satellites show the planet and nothing else. They've decided not to add debris to this simulation, I guess. Finally, the instruction to launch comes. I order the ship's computer to go.

It thunders down the runway like a racehorse ready to be off. I pick up speed, faster, faster. Slowly, carefully I start to lift it into the air. When the back wheels pick up, I feel a flood of happiness that threatens to wash me away. Still, I keep the ship steady, and when I clear the atmosphere the goal planet starts to come into view.

As I rocket toward it, I size it up. It's a small, dense planet with high gravity. I keep the path straight, not ready to try anything fancy yet. Soon I enter the planet's gravity field. I use that force to whip me around the planet. The speed of flight feels amazing, like I'm actually there, actually flying. Once I've cleared the back of the planet, I fire the engines up all the way, break free of the gravity, and aim back toward earth. As I'm flying back, I can't help but start to test out the controls. I rock the ship left, right, left, right. Then I throw it into a fast corkscrew, rolling neatly over itself. I straighten back out and prepare to reenter the atmosphere. Briefly, I wonder what the punishment would be if I stayed out longer, but I force the thought away. I'm not getting kicked out for my first flight.

I run all the processes to get the ship ready to land. As the clouds clear, I take a quick glimpse at the map displaying my position. Right on track for the runway. I start to reduce speed, dropping a few feet per second. I've given myself plenty of room, and the angle is perfect. I set down on the runway, gliding to a complete stop.

The words **Simulation Complete** pop up and I open my eyes in the real world. It takes me a couple seconds to realize that there's an exhilarated grin stretching across my face.

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**Well ok people, I guess there are a couple of you reading this, so major internet cake for you. I know the chapters are short but I stop them where it seems natural for memories to end or transition. Anyway, thanks for reading, please, please, super please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Skylar Kaynes**

All around me, everyone else is waking up as well. Emotions seem to vary a lot; some people look like they're almost panicked, some look tentatively happy, but most just look relieved. I'm actually starting to worry for a moment. If it was so hard for some of the others, did I do something wrong, miss something? The simulation gives no indication of how well you did, only terminates once you're back on the ground.

One guy, Carson, whispers, "I almost crashed getting off the runway. After that I think I did ok, but takeoff was a mess."

"I'm sure you did fine," I tell him out of habit. In my mind I'm still reliving my flight. It was amazing, the way I felt so much more in control there than I have in any other simulation.

I'm snapped out of my reverie by Lieutenant Barr yelling my name with an expression that indicates that this is not the first time. Well, crap. "Follow me," he instructs, once I've snapped to attention. My happiness starts to drain away and is quickly replaced with trepidation.

I'm taken to the second highest floor, where basically all the commanding officers I've ever seen in the Spire are standing around the outside of the room. I'm confused and actually rather terrified, and it takes me a couple seconds to remember how to salute.

"At ease," General Marsh commands. "Now, we brought you here because we noticed some abnormalities in your initial flight. We monitor trainees' first flight sims carefully. It shows us which ones have promise, and which ones need a warning to train harder."

Lieutenant Blackburn steps forward with a portable screen. "Here's the average flight of a Middle Company trainee." A video starts displaying on the now-floating screen. From the start, it's pretty clear that whoever ran this ship wasn't ready. The takeoff is so slow that they barely make it off the ground. The flight path to the planet isn't bad, but they enter the gravity field at a bad angle and have to power the thrusters into reverse at the last moment to avoid a collision course (although I do give them props for the quick reaction). Once they make it around the back of the planet, the trip back is decent until the landing, which could best be described as clumsy.

"Now we have your initial flight." Now that I'm watching it objectively, I see a few things that went wrong; liftoff was a little shaky and I reentered the atmosphere a little too fast, but overall it's not bad.

"As you can see, for a first flight you did exceptionally well, apart from the theatrics on the way back. We're trying to figure out why." General Marsh looks at me expectantly.

I have absolutely no idea how to respond to this. "I don't know, I just somehow knew what I was supposed to be doing." The comment about "theatrics" needles me. I was just testing the ship's abilities. In a highly enjoyable manner.

Lieutenant Barr looks at the General for permission, then asks, "When you were flying, is you feel like you were actually piloting an aircraft?"

I think for a moment. "Well yeah, but it's not like I felt like a person flying a ship. It was more like...I really don't know, more like the ship itself, I guess."

"So did you have to think about everything, or did it feel like it just happened on instinct?"

"Umm, I guess I thought about it at first, then it was probably instinct." These questions are ridiculous. I can't even remember what I was thinking half the time, much less summarize it.

"Alright. Basically, that's what we need to know. You see, that instinct you talked about doesn't usually develop until you're a couple months into the flight sims. Most people think the have to consciously control every movement the ship needs to make. Essentially, they act like a human pilot of a manned aircraft. You think differently, and it makes you a natural flier."

My mind whirls, trying to process that information. "But I didn't even know what I was supposed to be doing half the time, it just happened, really."

"That's what natural means, trainee," Blackburn snaps.

I ignore him. "So, what does this mean?"

"Well, we're not really sure," Marsh says. "We don't get many like you, so there's not really a clear corse of action. We'll discuss what we want to do based on your training scores, and get back to you soon. For now, you're dismissed."

I salute again and leave the room in an exceptionally disgruntled manner. Sure, the whole natural ability thing is great, and I'm sure it'll sink in later, but right now they've just made me miss lunch.

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**Sorry this is late, I totally just spaced on updating. Anyway, it's great that some of you guys are even reading it! Please review :D**


	4. Chapter 4

"Heard you got in trouble today, plebe." By way of an answer to the voice coming from just behind my left ear, I drop and spin, kicking my leg out low. The boy I've just swept tumbles to the ground. I brush away the flash of identifying information that reads:

**Name: Ansel Kaynes**

**Call Sign: Dagger**

**Rank: USIF Grade VI, Camelot Company, Alexander Division**

**Origin: Anchorage, AK**

**Achievements: State Speech and Debate-1st Place, Member of Regional Championship Hockey Team, National Merit Scholar**

**IP: 2053:db7:lj71:287:113:6e8**

**Security Status: Top Secret LANDLOCK-6**

Like I need that to identify my own dimwit brother. (I tend to sass my neural processor a lot, which I guess is weird, but I promise I'm totally sane.)

"Ow, jeez, Skylar," he whines.

"Aw, shut it Axle." It's not like I have a ton of patience with my brother on the best of days.

"Hey, I've had a long, hard day of fighting space battles."

"Yes, yes, you're in CamCo, and you let me forget it approximately zero percent of the time. Now if you'll excuse me, I've just spent half an hour being interrogated for something I did right, and I might murder you solely because I'm so hungry."

"Maybe it was actually about something you did wrong. Maybe they're just waiting for you to reveal your secret plot, and then they're gonna arrest you and rip the neural processor out-"

"Axle!" I shriek, lunging at him. Laughing, he jumps back and starts running down the hallway. I chase after him, wondering how exactly he became a Combatant, when all of a sudden I crash into someone full force. From where I've landed on the ground, my eyes travel upward and I don't need my neural processor to tell me that I have quite literally just run into Elliot Ramirez. Awkward. Now, I will readily admit that he is as gorgeous as he appears on tv, but it's less because of that and more because I just collided with a solid object that my apology comes out as a stutter.

"Hi, sorry, I-I just-" I gesture vaguely at the hall that Axle has now disappeared down, laughing. "Sorry."

He takes in my information. "Axle's sister?" I nod. "I totally understand. Kid's not a bad fighter, but he's kinda crazy."

"Got that one right," I mutter. He grins.

"Well, if you're gonna go beat your brother to a pulp, don't let me stand in your way." He sticks out a hand and pulls me to my feet.

"Thanks. And...sorry." Now, I would definitely say that flustered is not a natural state of being for me. And yet, I could certainly be described as such as I ran off down the hall to find Axle, and, as Elliot had put it, "beat my brother to a pulp."

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**Sorry, this one's a little short. They're all different lengths because I generally stop them at some place it seems natural for an individual memory to end, but it does mess with the chapter lengths a little. Anyway, hope you liked it, please review. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Wow guys, I'm sorry, I really suck at updating this story (although, in my defense, I've been gone for over a week). Anyway, here you go, sorry it's super late. **

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A week later. they have their decision, and I've been called back in. This time, I'm escorted back to the same tower room by some officer I've never even seen before.

I salute to General Marsh and he picks up a piece of paper.

"Here we have the official ruling of the USIF in regard to your position." I go cold in what might be fear. Or excitement. Or nervousness. It's hard to tell, really.

"Since you have less than a month left in Middle Company, you'll just proceed to Upper with the rest of your class. However, you will start advanced combat training. and after three to four months, if you perform sufficiently, you will act as a substitute combatant." At that sentence, the excitement wins out, bubbling up inside of me so that it's one of the hardest fights of my life to keep a straight face.

"You won't be fighting in every battle, but we can put you in place of one of the combatants that need a day's break. Assuming you complete your Upper Company classes with the required grades, you will then be advanced to Camelot Company." He sets down the paper.  
"No personal offense meant, Kaynes, but the USIF is getting desperate. We're losing, giving up more assets to the Russo-Chinese almost daily, That's why we're willing to take a chance on you, because you don't need to be taught to fly . You can be ready faster. So work hard, Kaynes. The Intrasolar Forces need a miracle." But no pressure. And then it sinks in. I'm going to get to do what every trainee that comes to the Spire dreams of doing. I will get to fight. When I'm dismissed, I get the feeling that I've only had a few other times before. I feel like I'm flying.

I try to hide the ridiculous grin on my far as I practically bounce into lunch. I might as well be floating on air as I grab my food and plop down in my seat at the Machiavelli female table.

"What's got you so worked up?" Trina Vale, one of the Upper Company trainees asks me.

"Nothing," I say quickly.

"Such lies, Sky," Heather Akron teases. "You gonna tell us or what?"

"Alright. You guys have beaten it out of me. Ok, so," I pause for a second to try and calm down a little, "I might get to be a Combatant!"

Trina waves her fork at me. "Congrats," she says, through a mouthful of food.

I wave my fork back. "Thanks."

"So how's that going to work?" Heather asks. "I mean, we're still in Middle Company."

"Basically, once we move up I'll technically still be in Upper Company, but I'll fight with CamCo. I'll still do the regular upper classes and everything, but if they're desperate enough they might start putting me in battles."

Heather laughs at the last part, but there's not much humor in the sound, and when she congratulates me it doesn't feel particularly genuine either. And even though I don't have much ability to read emotions, it's obvious she's jealous.

"So I turn to her. "Hey, if I do get in, I bet you're next, right? I'll try to get whoever sponsors me to pick you up, too."

"Cool," she says with a half smile. Then I'm sucked into a sea of questions about who might sponsor me, and if I've chosen a call sign, and when I start battle training. In the middle of it all, I look over and Heather's just picking at her food. I feel a surge of anger. She's one of my best friends; can't she even try to be happy for me? It's not like I asked for this.

But eventually my worries are lost in the hope that I'm finally going to get to do something real.

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**Thanks for reading, hope you liked this chapter. However, since it was a bit of a filler and since I was horribly late posting it, I'm going to try to post the next one tomorrow, especially since it's pretty exciting. That's all for today, please review! **


	6. Chapter 6

**Guess who actually kept a promise? Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter, because I had fun with the action. **

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My first battle doesn't go exactly like I'd wanted it to.

I enter the room feeling really, really nervous. I've fought with CamCo in mock battles for a couple weeks and I've been brought up to the highest level of tactics, but I don't think I'll ever be prepared enough.

Axle's not fighting today. He has the day off, and I honestly think it's because he hasn't been doing very well lately. He's kind of lacking the focus and creativity recently, which is everything that CamCo requires. The thing is, as much as my brother annoys me, I still think it's be nice to have him here about now.

As I walk over to my cot, Emefa high fives me, Elliot flashes a quick smile, and Cady asks, "You ready?"

I shake my head. "Not sure I'll ever be ready for this."

"Hey, you'll do fine," Elliot says.

"Dude, we're putting you up against Ursa Major. He's ridiculously slow," Alec adds. I smile gratefully up at them, but it does nothing to quell the panic I feel.

We start to hook into the connector wires and I'm shaking a little. Just before Emefa clicks in, she mouths, "Good luck." I flip up my hair, insert the wire, and take control of my ship. Takeoff doesn't require a second thought now, although if I'm honest I still love V1.

We clash near Europa. I'm last to arrive, and my target is left open. Sure enough, it's the slowest ship out there. Our overall plan is to engage one-on-one long enough for Emefa, the best evasive Combatant, to slip through the ranks and land.

As I start to approach Ursa Major, he starts firing with lighter guns. I drop quickly under, then fly straight toward him at a steep upward angle, returning fire as I go. At the last second, I pull up sharply, looping over backward. I come up under him, firing a heavy blast into the belly of his ship. Next, I start to spiral downward as he turns and starts following and shooting after me. I'm about to move behind him, but that's when things start going wrong. I don't know which of our fighters gets taken out first, but as they're blasted into oblivion, the Russo-Chinese shop they were fighting comes after me. With two of them on my tail, I don't even have time to shoot. I just try every evasive maneuver I can think of, rolling, twisting, looping. Eventually, though, I'm locked into a corner, unable to move back anymore without running into the crossfire from other fights. I try to fly straight up, but the second fighter is above me. Ursa Major gets one hit in with heavy artillery, one he has no way of missing, and that's it. I don't stand a chance. As my ship takes the fiery blast and floats dead in space, I wake up. Very angrily.

I look around to see who got taken out first. Alec is sitting up, looking about as pissed off as I feel.

"Who took you out?" I ask.

"Medusa," he replies with a grimace. That explains it. Alec is good, one of the best, but he's not Medusa good.

"Ugh, I think she came after me after she took you out."

"So now you know why we always lose," he mutters. "Still, I was up for a while, so you must've done alright."

"Well, I tried, but it was like she knew what I was doing before I did it," I complain.

Another grimace. "Yeah, get used to that. Medusa is freaking scary."

Just then, the other Combatants start waking up one at a time, each with a look of utter defeat. We wait a few minutes, watching Emefa's body, her continued stillness giving us hope. That is, until her eyes fly open and she rolls over and punches her cot.

"I was this close," she growls.

"What happened?" I ask.

Cady answers, "They trapped us all in a circle, and Kalashnikov came through and massacred us all. We got Emefa through, but Medusa took after her and...well, you've fought Medusa now. You know how it is."

I nod, grimly. "So now what?"

"Now we go kill ourselves watching the videos of our failures," Emefa replies through gritted teeth.

"Hey, we're learning from it," Elliot calls.

"Call it what you want, Elliot," she retorts angrily. "It still sucks."

And on that happy note, I head off to my first battle review. And it really does suck.

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**A/N- V1 is considered "decision speed," where the pilot either has to take off or abort the takeoff. Oh, the things I learn from Alex Rider. **

**Thanks for reading, please leave a review! Bye for now**


	7. Chapter 7

**Oh my freaking god I accidentally abandoned this story for almost a month. I'm really sorry, that wasn't supposed to happen, but for some reason, this is the one I always forget to update.**

**This one's a direct continuation of the last chapter, so you may want to go back and reread that one if you read it when it came out. Anyway, please enjoy :D**

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They have the footage shown to us on basically standard TV screens, which strikes me as odd at first-why not have it sent directly to our processors-but this makes it easier to take in the fight as a whole.

I'm able to see a lot of things about the others I never noticed in practice. I notice the way Snowden hangs back, refuses to take risks. I realize that Cady almost always watches Alec's back the best she can, making them a formidable team until Medusa separates them. I see how positively lethal Emefa is, battling her way out of some tight corners. And I notice Elliot

Elliot is honestly not a good fighter. I don't say that to be mean. He's a good guy and a good leader, but he just doesn't fly like the rest of us do.

By now I've realized that the footage shown to the public is highly edited. They switch call signs around on the ships so their star Combatants never look bad. My guess is that the one with the Ares sign is usually Alec, or occasionally Emefa or one of the others.

It's weird, watching my ship onscreen. It's strangely disconnected, so different from the way it feels when I'm flying it. I bite my lip with every mistake I see myself make, trying to will the pixels of the screen to show a version where I didn't screw up quite so much.

After the video ends, everyone splits off into pairs to discuss the battle. I find myself grabbed by Alec, who I've now discovered is more like the leader behind the scenes.

"Not bad for a first fight, Kaynes."

"I'd say it was pretty bad, personally," I retort.

He almost looks amused. "That's because you're you. And as far as I can see, you're used to being the best. Give it time before you try to take over CamCo, Skylar."

"I know," I grumble. "I just could've done so much better."

"You think every single one of us doesn't think that every time? Because trust me, I was one of the first ones here, and that feeling never goes away. Now, why don't you tell me what went well for you and what didn't?"

"I got myself backed up against a crap ton of space junk, mainly. I shouldn't have tried to pull back up, I could've kept going straight down a little longer."

"All right. What went well?"

"Ummm..." I struggle to think of anything in particular.

"Fine, I'll help you out. All of your evasions, the loops and the corkscrews, those were really good. They seemed much more fluid than most people's when we practice them. Does that come naturally?" I nod. "Huh. We'll have to figure out how that works, sometime. Ok, now you tell me what I did wrong."

I review the memory of the video in my neural processor. "When you did the really steep dive where Medusa followed you, you spiraled off to the right. I think you could've made it out of there if you had gone left. It looks to me like left turns were a little slower for her ship."

"Perfect. I wasn't sure you were going to catch that, but you're absolutely right. That model of aircraft is a little touchy for sharp lefts. Anything else?"

"Just that you're not too shabby at corkscrews and everything yourself."

He gives me a half-smile. "Why thank you. Anyway, that's about it for today, you can head back to class. Hope you'll be fighting with us again soon."

Everyone has begun straggling out the door, and as I leave, Elliot catches up with me in the hallway. It strikes me as odd, since I've barely talked to him since the chasing-Axle-through-halls incident, but still I drop back to match his pace.

"It's true then, Kaynes, you really are a natural," he says.

A strange mix of emotions catches me by surprise; excitement, because, come on, Elliot Ramirez is praising me, and annoyance, because I'm not nearly as good as everyone thinks I am. "Thanks, but it's not like I did anything that wonderful. I was one of the first ones taken out."

"By Medusa," he points out. "Do you know how long it took most of us to get to the level you're already at? Months, Skylar."

"But I made so many dumb mistakes."

"And I'm still making those dumb mistakes. You're going to be far better than I'll ever be."

"Hey, you're not that bad. You weren't the first one taken out." I almost laugh as I say it, because "consoling the head of CamCo" was not on the list of things I ever expected to do.

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**I'll try to get the next one up soon to make up for this one being ridiculously late. On a side note, I finally got Vortex, yay!**

**Hope you liked it, please review :)**


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